Thirteen (Otherworld 13)

Jaime shouldered past, grabbed the handle and pulled. The door didn't budge.

"It's a time lock," Medina said. "It'll open in a few minutes. But you . . . you . . ."

"You don't want to go out there," Holland whispered.

Medina nodded. "We'll be safe in here. Just--"

A sickening crunch from inside the cell. Then a grunt. Medina went still, then snatched the gun from my hands and headed for the holding cell.

I could have warned her. But I figured she already knew something was going on. And she was a cop. Serve and protect the taxpayers. I was a taxpayer.

In front of the cell, she stopped dead.

"Oh my God. Oh my God."

A grunt. A snort. I ran for Medina. Didn't mean to. Jaime and Keiran even tried to grab me. I ran anyway.

The werewolf was on all fours, back humped, fur still sparse, a nightmare version of a wolf.

The biker chick was dead. And . . . no longer in one piece.

The wolf was over her, bloody froth and other bits dripping from his jaws. He growled, fur on end, his drug-hazed eyes fixed on Medina.

"Shoot him," I whispered.

"The--the bullets. They aren't . . ." She swallowed. "They aren't silver."

"Oh, for God's sake." I reached for the gun.

She yanked it away from me and stumbled back. "No, you'll only antagonize--"

The wolf ran for the cell door and I slammed it shut. It was broken and wouldn't lock, but the beast lacked hands, meaning sliding it open would be imposs--

The wolf hit the door. The whole wall shuddered. He took a bar in his jaws and yanked.

"The gun," I said, wheeling. "Give me--"

Medina started to run toward the time-locked door. I caught her by the leg. She went down. The gun flew. She twisted, trying to throw me off as the wolf--

Two staccato shots. I looked back in time to see the wolf collapse. Jaime stood there, gun clutched in her hands.

"I see Jeremy's lessons are paying off," I said as I got to my feet.

"When you're the Alpha's girlfriend, you need to know how to stop those guys."

She was spelling it out for Medina's benefit, putting a little extra emphasis on "Alpha" and sliding her gaze the cop's way. Sure enough, Medina paled.

"Seems she does know something about our side of the universe. Fancy that." I walked over to her, still huddled on the floor. "By that look on her face, though, she doesn't know nearly as much as she should. Like exactly who she was taking into custody. And who's probably on his way right now, tracking down his girlfriend, very pissed off about the situation and about to be even more pissed off when he sees that." I pointed toward the dead wolf in the cage.

"I--I--"

"That's the problem they were having in lockup when we arrived, wasn't it? You weren't just stupid enough to imprison a"--I glanced at Holland, still standing by the door, in shock. I had no idea how much of this was penetrating, but I shouldn't take chances--"a guy like that, but you drugged him, too. Intentionally released his inner animal."

"No." She scrambled up. "I just arrested him. That's my assignment."

"From the liberation movement?"

"Yes. I bring in people like us."